IBM Uptown Classic 10K

This morning, it was time for the first race in the Distance Challenge, the IBM Classic 10K. It had a new course this year, which promised to be faster than the course that looped around and around the IBM campus up north. It had some subtle inclines in it, but nothing monstrous. My only concern was the weather, which was warm and muggy. At least the sun didn't come out during the race!

I met up with Frank right away in the parking lot (he must have seen me drive up), and we went over to meet the troops for the warmup and drills. Alex was about to jump over the start/finish banner, he was so excited, and the rest of us were, um, cautiously optimistic about the coming race. The Chicago folks were supposed to cruise the race at a pace not any faster than their planned marathon goal pace, and the rest of us were supposed to go pretty hard so that Gilbert could "see where we were."

The warmup run was up and back the last mile or so of the course, and Gilbert set the pace, so it was really slow. We were probably running at a 10:00/mile pace, but it was all about getting the legs ready to run. Once we got back near the start/finish line, we took over a parking lot for drills, strides, and some light stretching. Except for a case of nerves, I felt good. Frank and I headed back to the start line, and I took a GU on the way. We found some water, and I topped off the hydration reserves. It was time to line up, and we chose a spot fairly far back, ending up about 1:45 to the start after the horn sounded. The National Anthem was sung, the Governor said something that none of us could hear, and we were off.

I lost Frank in the initial stampede, which was critical only in that we sort of planned to run the same pace...he doing his MGP, and me going for a PR, which coincidentally were the same. As I made my way through the madding crowd, I saw him ahead, and kept him in sight as we turned down Shoal Creek. That road winds along, with a very slight downhill trend. I missed the first mile marker, and skipped the first water stop. During mile 2, I passed the Gov, who was surrounded by his two bodyguards. Once I saw the 2 mile marker, on White Rock, I saw that I was pretty much on pace, and felt pretty good at the time. I was warm, but with the sun hiding behind overcast skies, it was tolerable so far.

Mile 2 split: 15:42 (7:51/mile pace).

White Rock took a short rise up to Great Northern, and so we were running the Freescale Marathon course "backwards," which for that race means we were trending uphill. I was pretty spry in this part, and caught up with Jan and Frank during this chunk of the course. I got a quick drink and a splash of water over my head at the water stop there, and may have gotten a little aggressive with my running there. The mile 3 split seemed way fast, but more on that later. I kept moving along, and Frank stayed back with Jan for a bit, so I kept rolling along. It still felt like a "run how you feel" situation, but I was glad when we turned back towards Shoal Creek and we got a slight decline on the road. We turned once more up Shoal Creek, towards the last hill on the course, such as it was. Mile 4's split seemed way off, so I assumed (later confirmed to a degree) that the mile 3 marker was short. I interpret my splits as such:

Mile 3 and 4 splits: Mile 3: 7:17 for .9 miles, 8:06 pace, Mile 4: 8:31 for 1.1 miles, 7:45 pace. That's about right, based on GPS data from those folks wearing such a device. So, I was doing well still...suffering a bit due to temperature, but hanging in there.

Mile 5 featured the fairly significant uphill bit on Shoal Creek. I pushed up the hill, passing a good number of folks, but I was starting to suffer a bit. I saw Amy ahead of me maybe 40 yards, so I started keeping her in sight as an aid to keep me moving. Another water stop was in here somewhere, and I did the sip and splash water stop routine there for the last time. I knew that I was in the home stretch, but it was still hard to push, given the heat. I also saw Charlene in this stretch, and stayed with her as we turned towards the elementary school up there and the last long stretch back to the mall. There was one last slight rise, and finishing that, I tried to recover just a bit on the first part of the last mile. Frank caught back up to me in here, and just told me to follow him to the finish. That helped a lot, since I was seriously thinking about walking at the time! Going down that long stretch, I was able to get rolling again, and we eventually caught Amy right at the 6 mile marker.

Gilbert was there, yelling at me and Amy to stay with Frank to the finish. I hoped my form was somewhat in shape, but I'm sure I looked a mess by then. I felt like a mess, that's for sure. We turned for the final stretch, and Frank called back to me to "draft" behind him, and he'd push me to the finish line. I wasn't really sure what my prospective finishing time would be, but I knew I had to kick it hard. I was making pretty good noises as I huffed and puffed to the finish, much to Frank's amusement, I think. I found a pretty good final gear, and Frank allowed me to go by near the finish, and I was done. Amy finished just after us.

I spent a few seconds gasping, and then moved gently ahead, grabbing an ice cold Ozarka water for the start of what would be a lengthy post-race rehydration. I was drenched, but relatively happy with my time. That time, you ask?

Splits miles 5, 6, 6.21: 8:11, 8:00, 1:22 (6:35 pace for that last .21 miles). Total time 49:04, 7:54 average pace. On a bad weather day, that is an acceptable time. I did have a negative split after all that, 7:55 pace for the first 2.9 miles, 7:53 pace for last 3.3 miles, mostly thanks to that great final kick.

We all found our way over to the bananas and other food, and I finished off that water on the way. A banana was pretty tasty, too. I just couldn't face a piece of pizza, even though it was the really good Mangia pizza. Alex and Frank had some, of course, but my stomach just wasn't curious about it today. There was lots of chatter after the race, as usual, and most of us who were seriously racing finished about a minute or so slower than we had hoped. I'll put that down to weather-related casualties. Gazelles were heavily represented at the top of the various age group divisions, of course. Alex ran a good race, in particular. Frank was happy with his relative ease in covering the 10K with me. Shannon ran a little ahead of me, too. Richard had a PR, but he suffered in the second half of the race like the rest of us did.

Frank and I cut through the mall to go to our cars for Endurox, and it was downright cold in there after generating so much heat during the race. I changed into a dry shirt, and after that, I was feeling a lot better. We went back to the post-race scene and found even more Gazelles to chat with, while the Kids 1K was held. Joseph ran his first race, ever, and probably did pretty well. I'll check that out later. I'm just happy that he finally got the courage to get out there and test himself. I'm sure he beat me pretty good. I saw Gene Woodruff, my old friend from Wimberley, and it was good to catch up with him as the DC starts anew. I'm sure I'll see him on the course during every single DC race. At least it seems that way.

They started giving away whole pizzas by then, and Alex and Frank scored a couple of pies each. Again, I just couldn't get excited about real food, but they sure looked good. We saw Gilbert and Bernard on the way to our cars, and Coach gave us our marching orders for Monday's workout. I'll meet Alex and Amy tomorrow for a really easy 7 miles, and I think I'll try and do the full stretching afterwards, as well.

A decent race, not a great one, but an event PR, and my second fastest Masters 10K ever, so I've got to accept that as something worthwhile. My relative position in the standings was better than last year, too, so I've got to take improvement as a positive. It'll be interesting to see where I am in the DC standings when they come out on Tuesday or Wednesday, too. I don't have any great notions that I'll finish really high there, but it would be cool to improve my position there this year.